Surface-mountable razor holder

ABSTRACT

A surface-mountable holder includes a rear surface adapted to be coupled with an affixing mechanism for mounting to an external surface. The surface-mountable holder further includes a front surface configured to magnetically secure a shaving razor. The front surface is adapted to receive an upper handle portion of the shaving razor. The upper handle portion is in close proximity to a razor portion of the shaving razor.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/438,159, filed Jun. 11, 2019, which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/140,249,filed Sep. 24, 2018, which claims the benefit of Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/567,031, filed Oct. 2, 2017, the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to holding devices and, moreparticularly, to a shaving razor holder for securing a safety shavingrazor when not in use.

BACKGROUND

Existing wall mountable razor holders fall into three broad groups. Inthe first group, a pair of horizontally spaced arms extends from a wallmounting structure and simply suspends the razor from the wide part ofthe razor and with the widest end, usually the cartridge end, at thetop. Examples of this first group include holders disclosed in: U.S.Pat. No. 4,773,158 to Kertzman; U.S. Pat. No. 7,506,854 to Lukan; U.S.Design Pat. No. D,333,583 to Hurd; and U.S. Design Pat. No. D294,903 toPokorny. In a second group, a single prong extends from a wall mountingstructure and this prong connects with a recess or hole in the handle tosuspend the razor. Examples of this second group are disclosed in U.S.Design Pat. No. D277,434 to Iten and U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D495,179 andD494,795 both to Bunnell, et al. In a third group, a simple cup extendsfrom a wall mounting structure and the razor is simply placed in thecup, usually with the razor cartridge end of the razor at the top andfacing out of the cup to prevent the razor blades of the cartridgecontacting any internal part of the cup that might cause damage to therazor blades. Examples of this third group include U.S. Design Pat. Nos.D464,222 and D423,845 both to Coffin, et al. and U.S. Design Pat. No.D370,375 to Murgida, et al.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shaving razor holder, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the holder, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 3A is a side view of the holder, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3B is a section view of the holder taken along sectional indicator8 shown in FIG. 1, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the holder's back mounting component,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the holder's back mountingcomponent, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the holder's back mountingcomponent, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a rear perspective view of the holder's front component,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the holder's front component, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the holder, with a razor retained thereon,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a front view of the holder, with a razor retained thereon,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a rear view of the holder, with a razor retained thereon,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a rear perspective view of the holder, with a razor retainedtherein, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a front view of the razor retained on a holder and a360-degree access path in an x-y plane, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the holder and a hemisphere of accesspaths, with a razor retained therein, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ergonomic design for existing wall mountable razor holders issuboptimal, as they do not fully expose the razor handle that isintended to be accessed. Rather, in existing wall mountable razorholders, the razor handle is guarded behind prongs, arms, and cupscreating unnecessary obstructions for a user to access the razor handle.Such obstructions do not permit a safety shaving razor to be attachedand detached in a full range of access paths. For example, the prongs,arms, and/or cups limit the angle that a user can remove and attach theshaving razor from the razor holder.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a surface-mountable (e.g.,wall-mountable) holder for a safety razor that may provide unobstructedaccess (e.g., a 360° access path in an x-y plane substantially parallelto the surface to which the holder is mounted, a full hemisphere ofaccess paths (e.g. 180°) centered at the point of mounting the holder toa surface, etc.) to both affix and remove such safety razor with easeand simplicity. Generally, the present disclosure relates to asurface-mountable holder for removably retaining (e.g., securing,suspending) a safety shaving razor when not in use. The holder may bemounted to a surface (e.g., a wall) that is a planar surface (e.g.,disposed along a first plane) in an x-y plane, where the z-direction isgoing into the planar surface and moving away from the planar surface.

In some embodiments, unobstructed access to affix and remove a safetyrazor includes affixing and removing the safety razor in a full 360°access path in an x-y plane substantially parallel to the surface towhich the holder is mounted. FIG. 13 illustrates a razor 20 retained ona holder against a planar surface in an x-y plane, according to certainembodiments. The surface (e.g., a wall) may be in a first plane that isan x-y plane. A 360° access path may include any angle (e.g., anywherebetween 0° and 360°) in the x-y plane. For example, the safety razor 20may be affixed to the holder by approaching from a 0° angle, a 90°angle, a 270° angle, etc. in an x-y plane. In another example, thesafety razor 20 may be removed from the holder from a 0° angle, a 90°angle, a 270° angle, etc. in an x-y plane. The safety razor 20 may beremoved by moving the safety razor 20 away from the holder in thez-direction. The safety razor 20 may be attached to the holder by movingthe safety razor 20 towards the holder in the z-direction.

In some embodiments, unobstructed access to affix and remove the safetyrazor includes affixing and removing the safety razor in a 180° accesspath (e.g. a full hemisphere of access paths) within a sphere centeredat the point (e.g., central point) of mounting the holder to a surface(e.g., wall). FIG. 14 illustrates a razor holder 10 mounted to a surfaceat the origin of an x-y-z coordinate system. The surface is in the x-yplane and the z-direction is going into the surface and moving away fromthe surface.

The razor holder is mounted to the external surface at a first point(e.g., origin of the x-y-z axis) on a first side of the externalsurface. Access paths from the first point create a sphere of accesspaths centered about the first point. A hemisphere of access pathscorresponds to half of the sphere disposed on the first side of theexternal surface. The surface-mountable razor holder may secure theshaving razor without obstructing the hemisphere of access paths toremove the shaving razor from the surface-mountable razor holder andaffix the shaving razor to the surface-mountable razor holder.

The external surface is disposed along a first plane that includes afirst point corresponding to the mounting of the holder to the planarsurface. A second plane intersects the first plane at the first pointand creates a 180° angle (a line) at the intersection with the firstplane. For example, the x-z plane intersects the central point andcreates a 180° angle along the x-axis.

For the 360° angle centered at the central point and disposed on thesecond plane (e.g., the x-z plane), a first 180° are outside of the wall(e.g., see hatched portion of FIG. 14) and a second 180° are within thewall. The razor may be accessed (e.g., removed from and attached to theholder) via a full unobstructed 180° (e.g., at any angle of the 180°outside of the wall) in the second plane.

For example, for a second plane that is horizontal (the x-z plane), therazor may be removed from the holder by pulling the razor towards theright (at a 0° angle), by pulling the razor straight out away from thewall (at a 90° angle), by pulling the razor towards the left (at a 180°angle), or any other angle in between. The razor may be attached to theholder by the razor approaching the holder from the right (0° angle), byapproaching holder straight on (e.g., at a 90° angle), by approachingthe holder from the left (e.g., at a 180° angle), or any other angle inbetween. (See hatched area of FIG. 14 for angles of access from 0° to180° in the x-z plane.) In another example, for a second plane that isvertical (e.g., the z-y plane), the razor may be removed from the holderby pulling the razor down (e.g., at a 0° angle), by pulling the razorstraight out away from the wall (at a 90° angle), by pulling the razorup (180° angle), or any other angle in between. The razor may beattached to the holder by the razor approaching the holder from below(e.g., at a 0° angle), by approaching the holder straight on (e.g., at a90° angle), by approaching the holder from above (e.g., at a 180°angle), or any other angle in between.

The shaving razor being removable from and attachable to the frontsurface of the surface-mountable razor holder in a full hemisphericalaccess path includes the shaving razor being accessible via a fullunobstructed access path (e.g., without obstruction by prongs, arms, acup, etc.) along any plane (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, etc.) thatintersects the planar surface (e.g., wall) at the first pointcorresponding to the mounting of the holder to the planar surface (e.g.,the razor may be removed from the holder at any angle other than pushingthe shaving razor into the holder or surface to which the holder ismounted).

A safety shaving razor may include a razor handle that is coupled to oneor more blades. In one implementation, the one or more blades are housedwithin a razor head that is integral to the razor handle. In anotherimplementation, the one or more blades are housed within a razor headthat is removably coupled to the razor handle. The safety shaving razormay be used to sever hair from skin without cutting the skin.

The present disclosure features a shaving razor holder comprising amolded front exterior with contours that substantially match its razorhandle counterpart. Such molded exterior is connected with asurface-mountable back panel containing a ferrous magnet inserted into acavity. The cavity may be a cylindrical cavity. Such ferrous magnetextends to the front edge of the molded front exterior. In a furtheraspect of the present disclosure, the surface-mountable holder removablyconnects with a safety razor (e.g., a razor handle of a safety shavingrazor) containing ferrous material.

In some implementations, the ferrous magnet is self-contained within themolded front component, or within a single component design. Thefunction of the ferrous magnet may be equivalent in either instance.

Referring to FIGS. 1-12, a razor holder 10 is configured to secure asafety shaving razor 20 (e.g., FIG. 9). The holder 10 may include twointerconnecting components: a rear-facing component 14 (back component),which may mount to a surface (e.g., a wall), and a front-facingcomponent 17 (front component), which may couple (e.g., magneticallycouple, via magnetic attraction) with a shaving razor 20. A cylindricalmember 11 may extend from the inner wall of the rear-facing component 14and may contain a ferrous magnet which extends to the front edge of thefront-facing component 17. The rear-facing component 14 may include acylindrical member 11 extending from a first inner surface of therear-facing component 14. The cylindrical member may extend towards asecond inner surface of the front-facing component 17 responsive to thefront-facing component 17 engaging with the rear-facing component. Thecylindrical member may form a cavity and the magnet may be disposed inthe cavity. In one embodiment, a vertical ribbing structure 19 (e.g., astructure that protrudes within the cylindrical member 11) is positionedwithin cylindrical member 11 in order to receive and position theferrous magnet. For example, the ribbing structure 19 may be aprotruding structure within the cylindrical member 11 that regulates theheight of the ferrous magnet to position the ferrous magnet proximatethe front-facing component 17.

In one embodiment, the rear-facing component 14 is configured to bepress fit into the front-facing component 17 via protruding clips 12 and13 extending from the rear-facing component 14 and interconnecting withreceiving members 15 and 16 within the front-facing component 17. Inanother embodiment, the rear-facing component 14 may be integrallymolded with the front-facing component 17. In another embodiment, therear-facing component 14 may be mechanically attached (e.g.ultrasonically welded or similar) to the front-facing component 17. Inanother embodiment, the rear-facing component 14 may be chemicallyattached (e.g., glued with adhesive) to the front-facing component 17.

The front-facing component 17 may be molded generally to conform to theshape of its counterpart shaving razor 20 (e.g., substantially match theshape of the outer surface of the front-facing component 17). Suchcounterpart shaving razor 20 may include a corresponding ferrous magnetor metal component which can be affixed, implanted or co-molded intosuch shaving razor handle to ensure proper interaction with the magnetwhen the handle is affixed to the holder 10. The magnetic interactionprovides a retention force so that the shaving razor handle is securelyheld on the holder 10, but the retention force would not be so strong asto unduly complicate the removal of the shaving razor handle from theholder 10 when desired, e.g. as when initiating shaving. For example,the magnetic interaction may allow the shaving razor handle to snap tothe holder 10 when the shaving razor handle is in proximity of theholder 10. The magnetic interaction may retain the shaving razor handleeven when water is sprayed on the holder 10 and shaving razor handle(e.g., from a faucet). The magnetic interaction may retain the shavingrazor handle even when a user bumps into the shaving razor handle. Themagnetic interaction may allow removal of the shaving razor handle fromthe holder 10 by use of one hand of a user (e.g., is not so strong thatit requires removable using two hands).

In one embodiment, the rear-facing component 14 is mounted to a wall viaan adhesive bond 18 (e.g., with a strong moisture-resistant adhesiveputty tack, with a double-sided tape, with another form of adhesion,etc.). In some embodiments, the adhesive bond between the surface (e.g.,wall) and the holder 10 may be stronger than the magnetic force betweenthe holder 10 and the shaving razor handle 20. The adhesive bond 18 mayresist water (e.g., water being sprayed by a faucet) and bumps (e.g., bya user bumping into the shaving razor handle and/or holder 10). Theadhesive bond 18 may be removed from a surface and/or the holder 10 bytwisting the adhesive bond 18. The adhesive bond 18 may be reusable. Forexample, the adhesive bond 18 may be used to mount a holder 10 to asurface, may be removed from the holder 10 and/or surface, and may bereused to mount the holder 10 to a surface.

The holder 10 may be made of any suitable material including, forexample, polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), high density (HD)PETE, thermoplastic polymer, polypropylene, oriented polypropylene,polyurethane, polystyrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS),polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyester,metal, synthetic rubber, natural rubber, silicone, nylon, polymer, wood,antibacterial or antimicrobial materials, insulating, thermal, othersuitable sustainable or biodegradable materials, or any combinationthereof. Furthermore, it should be understood that the holder 10 may beconstructed of material that could be colored or plated to look likemetal, wood, or other materials.

Other Embodiments

Embodiments have been described in the present disclosure. Nevertheless,it will be understood that various modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Forexample, the holder may be affixed to a wall via a suction cup, doublesided mounting tape, screws, or nails.

1. A surface-mountable holder comprising: a rear surface adapted to becoupled with an affixing mechanism for mounting to an external surface;and a front surface configured to magnetically secure a shaving razor,the front surface adapted to receive an upper handle portion of theshaving razor, the upper handle portion being in close proximity to arazor portion of the shaving razor.
 2. The surface-mountable holder ofclaim 1, wherein the front surface is configured to magnetically securethe shaving razor in an upright position.
 3. The surface-mountableholder of claim 1, wherein a surface area of the front surface is shapedand sized to provide sufficient contact for magnetically securing theupper handle portion of the shaving razor.
 4. The surface-mountableholder of claim 1, further comprising a first magnet positioned adjacentto the front surface.
 5. The surface-mountable holder of claim 4,wherein the first magnet interacts with a second magnet incorporated inthe upper handle portion of the shaving razor to magnetically secure theshaving razor to the front surface.
 6. The surface-mountable holder ofclaim 4, wherein the first magnet interacts with a ferromagneticmaterial incorporated in the upper handle portion of the shaving razorto magnetically secure the shaving razor to the front surface.
 7. Thesurface-mountable holder of claim 1, further comprising a bodyseparating the rear surface from the front surface.
 8. Thesurface-mountable holder of claim 7, wherein the body comprises a lengthextending in a direction away from the external surface when the rearsurface is affixed thereto, and wherein the length is sufficient toprovide clearance for unobstructed access to a lower handle portion ofthe shaving razor when the shaving razor is magnetically secured to thefront surface.
 9. The surface-mountable holder of claim 8, wherein thelength of the body forms an approximate orthogonal angle with theexternal surface when the rear surface is affixed to the externalsurface.
 10. The surface-mountable holder of claim 7, wherein the bodyis adapted to support an external hanging object along its peripheralsurface.
 11. The surface-mountable holder of claim 7, wherein a magnetis provided within the body, the magnet positioned in close proximity tothe front surface.
 12. The surface-mountable holder of claim 1, whereinthe affixing mechanism is an adhesive backing.
 13. A surface-mountableholder comprising: a rear surface adapted to be coupled with an affixingmechanism for mounting to an external surface; a front surfaceconfigured to magnetically secure a shaving razor, the front surfaceadapted to receive an upper handle portion of the shaving razor, theupper handle portion being in close proximity to a razor portion of theshaving razor; and a body separating the rear surface from the frontsurface.
 14. A surface-mountable holder comprising: a rear surfaceadapted to be coupled with an adhesive backing for mounting to anexternal surface; a front surface configured to magnetically secure ashaving razor, the front surface adapted to receive an upper handleportion of the shaving razor, the upper handle portion being in closeproximity to a razor portion of the shaving razor; and a body separatingthe rear surface from the front surface, the body forming an approximateorthogonal angle with the external surface when the rear surface isaffixed to the external surface.